Sting & Darby Allin vs. The Young Bucks in a Tornado Tag Team match, serving as Sting’s retirement match, took place in the main event of the AEW Revolution 2024 pay-per-view event, with the babyfaces retaining the AEW Tag Team Titles.
Speaking on a recent edition of his “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, Matt Hardy discussed the bout. He said,
“I loved it. I loved every bit of it. More than anything, I’m happy for Sting. I’m happy Sting got the chance to tell the story in a correct fashion, he was treated with respect, he was treated with honor, and he was able to go out on his own note, which was fantastic. I loved everything about it. It’s no secret, it’s funny, the internet nobodies, the FIs, they love to talk about how I kiss ass with the Young Bucks. The Young Bucks are dear friends of mine. Two of my closest friends in the business. I love them to death. They kick ass. Sting is the person who demanded to work with the Young Bucks. That’s who he chose to work with. This wasn’t the Young Bucks doing some sort of flex of power. This was Sting demanding to work with the Young Bucks. That’s who he wanted to work with because he realized how good they are and how much they would bust their ass and how they would tell a good story, and that’s what he’s all about, telling the story. The story that was told during this whole run, we have Sting, who’s undefeated, and you don’t know if he’s doing to win and leave as the tag team champion and retire as the tag team champion, or will he lose and do the thing that they always did in the business. When it’s time for you to step away, you put somebody else over. That would have certainly been a possibility. So it was very unpredictable. I loved that fact. I loved the fact that, it’s a polarizing thing, the thing that Darby did, where he jumped out onto the sheet of glass and the chairs, I think that spot was appropriate in many ways. I’m not saying it’s something I would have specifically have done, but I understand Darby. I know how he thinks, and he is the true definition of what the Hardy Boys were supposed to be. He is a total adrenaline junkie that will just keep upping and upping and upping and upping the bar and doing something more crazy. He’s a true daredevil, almost masochistic in some ways.”
Hardy also praised the flashbacks to Sting’s past looks by using his sons as part of his entrance. He stated,
“I loved every single thing about it. It was emotional, they told a good ride. They told a good story. Sting looked as great as Sting could possibly look in that match, in those moments, and Darby did a hell of a job carrying his end of the deal, too. Kudos. Big round of applause to everybody involved. They killed it, and once again, I will applaud Tony Khan for getting Sting there and sending him out the right way.”
Finally, Hardy put over The Young Bucks for doing the honors to Sting in his final bout.
“I did. I texted back and forth with them after the match. I really expressed how much I loved it and how hard they busted their ass and to do business. They just did the right thing for business in general. They did the right thing for Sting. They just worked. At the end of the day, they got themselves over in that match because they were just the ultimate and consummate professionals in that match,” he said.
